but if we take a bad deal and say that all of the nation's fiscal problems are to be balanced on the back of middle class families and the wealthy don't participate, that's a bad deal we cannot and should not live within this country. >> shortly before your public comments about this this past summer, i was hearing off the record from democratic senators they believed they were going to have to go off the cliff because at that time, they couldn't conceive of any other way for republicans to violate their pledge to grover norquist that in january, once you're off the cliff, what everyone would be voting r for would not be considered a tax increase, so they thought they were going toof today it. is there now a growing feeling among democrats that the republicans are breaking up with norquist in such numbers that they might be able to do something reasonable before new year's eve? >> yeah, well, the fact is if we can't get a good deal and the bush tax cuts expire, when we come back in january, anything we do will be a tax cut and the grover norquist pledge won't apply, so it puts the re